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Podcast: Locked On SMU - Daily Podcast on SMU Mustangs Football & Basketball Episode: CULTURE: Why SMU Defense Will DOMINATE IN 2026 – Alexander Kilgore Talks Leadership, New DC Maurice Crum Transcript: It's a lock-down podcast network. Your team every day. Get your daily college sports fix completely ad-free with a seven-day free trial to the Every Day or Club. Listen to your favorite schools locked-on podcast without the interruptions and unlock an exclusive invite to our members-only Discord chat to talk team news 24-7 with die-hard fans. Join the club right now by tapping the link in the show notes to claim your free trial. Scott Simon's leaving as defensive coordinator got some people wondering what the future of SMU's defense is, but there's something there that will last longer than Scott Simon's that is going to make them really good. I'll tell you what that is coming up next. You are locked-on SMU. Your daily podcast on the SMU Mustang. Part of the locked-on podcast network. Your team every day. What's up everybody? Welcome to locked-on SMU on a very cool show that we've got for you today on this Wednesday. I'm Grayson Singleton. Coming up on the show today. Well, I told you guys you might have a surprise for today's show and we do. SMU linebacker Alex Kilgore is going to join me today in the second segment. So we'll get to have a conversation with the SMU captain plus. Basketball is going to look a little bit different than it did this season ago and depending on how they finish out filling out the roster, I might be okay with that. And I'll tell you what that is at the end of the show. But again, about eight to nine minutes from now, Alex Kilgore is going to join us on the show or Alexander Kilgore shall I say rather. We'll talk about that here in just a little bit. But first let's get started with what we teased. And yes, Scott Simon's is gone. You're going to have to go into your first powerful season without Scott Simon's calling the defense. And I think they're going to be just fine. As a matter of fact, this is why they're going to be just fine. And I'm going to give you a little bit of a sneak peek into my conversation with Alexander Kilgore. So I asked him, one of the questions I asked him was when you look at the litany of transfers that are coming in while also having a new defensive coordinator, I asked him how the acclamation process was going to go. And when you ask a question like that, you can get a variety of answers. I've asked that question to numerous athletes before. And each time I get very different answers. He told me there wasn't a process. There was no acclamation process because the culture that is already there was the process enough. And I think that's what's going to stay past Scott Simon's and why I think this defense is going to be pretty good. This defense could approach what SMU's defense was in 2024. The last time the Mustangs made the college football playoff before losing the Penn State. That's what I think this defense can do. I think this defense I told you this yesterday is going to be their most athletic. And I think they're going to cause a lot of problems on all three levels. Remember last year they were athletic on all three levels. They had a really good pass rush. They were solid against the run. The linebackers really started to come on. That was probably the unit on the team that came on the most last season. But the secondary was a problem. But what's different about this year? Well, they plugged their holes. They retained the guys that needed to stay. The leadership is still in place which means the culture is still going to stay in place. And when you have that good mix because more times than not in college football unless you just really hit home runs in recruiting in terms of guys who are going to fit and who are going to stay. And you give them a reason to stay. You're not going to see a whole lot of really homegrown units. It's just not going to happen anymore. So you're going to have a mix of transfers and guys you got out of high school and younger guys and older guys. Like you're going to have those mixes. It's going to resemble the NFL in a way. What wins out is your culture. And they've got a culture that brings everybody together under one mission. Fly around and cause problems is the best way I can describe it. You'll see more of that in the Kilgore interview. That's why they're going to be very good because they are all united under that one culture of fly around and cause some damn problems. And I think they've got the right mix. When you look at the guys that are coming back with this team, obviously you're replacing the entire starting defensive line. So we can't touch that there. But if you look at the guys that are coming back, Alexander Kilgore, Brandon Meizano, are going to be your linebackers in all likelihood with some other guys rotating in. Then you'll have a Marcel's Barnes and you'll have a Tyrone Poly. Okay, those are your guys coming back. It doesn't seem like a whole lot, but it's the right guys coming back. And if you followed me through the post season into the off season, you know that those are the guys that I said, you got to bring them back. I beat the table to bring back Marcel's Barnes and Marcel's Barnes is still here. I told you Tyrone Poly and I will continue to tell you, I think Tyrone Poly is going to be a hell of a playmaker. He's back. I told you throughout the season that I loved how Brandon Meizano's come on. Brandon Meizano's still here. So they brought back the right guys. Then they added dudes where they needed to get better. They needed to get better corner opposite of Marcel's Barnes. We're hearing good things about J Von Thomas. They needed to get better at the nickel spot, which was a turn style. Jarvis Lee is going to be a really good player. And then they had to replace their entire defensive line. And I told you about Christian Davis who talked about Iris Singles and a Malcolm Alcorn Crowder and then you're elevating a guy like Jikai Lang, baby, or whoever else is going to be at that defensive in rotation. So all that put together, they have a, they have the right bunch. And then you get into this fact too, why the defense is going to be pretty good. It's not like they brought in somebody else new. It's not like they went out to the mountain west, no offense to the mountain west. I love you guys. But it's not like they went out there and brought in the new defensive coordinator. The guy they brought in was Maurice Crum Jr, who was the linebacker coach, which kill gorgame me an interesting answer on that one too, that you'll see here in a little bit. But they brought him, they elevated him. They said, no, you're going to be the guy to call the place. And that's why the culture doesn't change because the new man in charge was part of the culture being set. He was, he was part of it. And when you have the right change, it is easy to maintain the things that made you good. When you have to go outside the building, sometimes you can get the right hire and it's all fine and good, but it's a roll of the dice. But now that you have the right kind of change, I think yes, I'm going to be just fine. I really do. They've got a lot new play caller, corners, safeties, defensive line, but they have the right guys returning. And when I hear something said to me along the lines of there wasn't much of an acclimation process for new guys, tells me a guy good leadership. That's what that tells me. So this team obviously has got talent and ability. I think they're going to keep taking the football away. I think they'll get after the quarterback like they've been doing. But they've also got real leadership and a real brotherhood on this squad. And the guy that's going to be in charge of it now, sharing co responsibilities with Ricky Huntley. And then obviously Maurice Crumb will call the plays. He's already been there. He's already been a part of the culture. He's already been a part of setting the culture and holding guys to the culture. So in no way, shape or form, am I concerned about that? And if I'm not concerned about your culture and I'm not concerned about your leadership, I feel pretty confident that your play is going to follow as well. So that's why I think SMU's defense is going to be really good. I think it will be good. I think it'll be statistically better than it was last year. They can't get much statistically worse against the pass. I'll tell you that right now. But I do feel like there are better days coming. And I do think they could potentially approach what they did in 2024. And if they do that, given their schedule this year, I think they could have them back in the ACC Championship game this year in 2026. And then after that, who knows? We shall see. All right, coming up next, my conversation with SMU linebacker, Alexander Kilgore should be a fun one here on Lock Don SMU. Stay tuned for that. We're just getting started here on a Wednesday. Workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox overflowing, and the one position you have to fill is Still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for. Skills, experience, and location so you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your post. And here's a stat that says it all. In the minute I've been talking to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed according to Indeed data worldwide. So if your hiring spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs. It's been less time searching and more time actually talking to these people who check all your boxes. It's less stress, less time, and with more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of the show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Welcome back to Lockdown SMU on this Wednesday edition of the show, Grace and Singleton here. Make sure you subscribe to the channel if you're new here and joining us today as a special guest. We have SMU linebacker Alexander Kilgore hopping on the show with us. Alexander, first of all, appreciate the time, brother. Thanks for doing this with me. Yes, I appreciate you for inviting me on. Yeah, absolutely, man. This is going to be a lot of fun. I want to start with asking about you before we get to the team in the defense for 2026. How are you feeling coming off of last year, banged up at the beginning of the year, missed a couple of games? How are you feeling at this moment in time? I feel great physically, mentally, spiritually. This is probably the best I felt since prior to the injury. My body, I kind of go saying how I feel like the old me, you know, kind of just the way I move the way I can move with being 230 again and not having to feel like I have to cater to that one ankle or that one leg. I feel very, I feel very good. I feel like the old me. When you say you feel like the old you, what do you think we were missing out about you as a player last year when you were dealing with the leg and with the ankle and what? What do you think is going to be so much better that you're going to be able to put on display this year? No, I don't have to cater to one leg. You know, I don't have to maybe take an extra step because of my ankles a little weak or that day, particularly. It's unhealthy. Everything's healthy. Everything's more than 100% from head to toes. You know, in this day and age of college football, you know, there's people that move around a whole lot and people that will say, well, the player that stayed for four years of one school is, you know, getting rare and rare. And here you are in your fourth year with SMU's program now as one of the leaders of not just the defense, but the team. How do you go about taking that responsibility and being an ambassador for this team and a leader on the field? SMU has been nothing but great for me on and off the field. So if it's been nothing but great, why leave? Why try to seek something that could be better? Like, I don't see anywhere in a country that can be better than SMU or in the city of Dallas, from the heart of Dallas. It's a major city in the United States. I've been on the coast last week. There hasn't been any major coaching shifts, right, except for my last year, which still isn't a major shift. It was inside job. So why leave? Why leave a great program? And it doesn't make sense to me. No, I want to disagree with you. And you mentioned there haven't been major coaching changes, but you aren't going to have a new defensive play caller this year. Scott Simons has moved on. It's now Maurice Crum, who has been your linebacker's coach these last three years as well. What's different about how Maurice Crum is operating the defense? Because I know there's got to be a little bit of different stuff compared to how him and coach Simons did the last couple of years. Yes, absolutely. I mean, naturally, when you're a play caller, you kind of lean towards your position group a little bit more. Of course, Simons leaned a little bit more to the safeties because he was in that room all the time. And naturally, Coach Crum is going to rely and lean a little bit more on the linebackers just as far as play calling goes. But I think I don't think the philosophy or the culture in any of that doesn't change, right? We're still going to run to the ball. We're going to swarm the ball. We're still going to take the ball away. It's like the way we've been doing the past three years that none of that changes. The only thing that changes is the person that's calling the place. And you know, you're talking about keeping that same mentality that you guys have had the last few years. Now you've got guys like Jarvis Lee that are new and Christian Davis and Jayvon Thomas and Jimmy Wierick coming over as well in the portal. How's it been acclimating all of the new guys to the core of you and Marcellus Barnes and Tyrone Polly. Guys who have been here, how has that acclimation process gone? You know, I think I was lastly, Coach Crum and everybody down from the recruiting department, they do a great job on knowing who to bring in that who will fit our culture. So it's really not a lot of work for us, right? It's just really to getting to know the person and when the workouts take care of that by themselves, you know, when you go through something hard with somebody, you're going to naturally get to know the person who you're fighting with. We're going to go to war with every single week, week in and week out and Coach Lashley and his crew does an amazing job. Talk to me about coach Lashley because in my year covering this program, Red has become one of my favorite coaches with the way he's very vocal about changes in college football, vocal about the ACC's place in college football and SMU's place in the power four. What is it like going to battle for that guy week in and week out? The trust he has in us, I mean, I know he'll go to battle for me and I'll go to battle for him. The relationship he has with every single player on this team is phenomenal and he wants to hear from us. He wants to get better just as well. He want to get better. He knows the goals that we have and he has the same goals and he'll do the work with us. Like, that's, he's not just going to push and yell at you and not help you out. He's going to push and yell and get the most out of the can, out of every single individual that's in this building. You know, you are one of the more unique SMU players on this particular roster because there's not a whole lot of you that were on the team in 2023, which was y'all's last season as a group of five team before making the move over to the power four. And as you guys have had success now as an ACC team, what's been the coolest part of that transition from a group of five team to a team that's made the college football playoff and is actually proving that it has staying power in the power four. For me, the mostly side of the part is playing top end talent weekend and week out. You know, there's no, no team in the ACC where you can wake up one weekend. Thank you to all over team. You can give me any week. And I love that because we got to be on our game weekend and week out. We got to show up every day. We got to prepare like, it's our last and not. I love that part of that. I love the competition of it from the skill to the big skill all the way to the big quarterback's running. But like everybody has a lot of talent in this league. I argue with Coach Lassett, I think we're one of the best leagues. But we have to compete at our very best weekend and week out. You know, last season was was a really interesting season. A lot of ups, a lot of downs, man. Was there something that was memorable from last year that you guys take into this year and say, we got that accomplished. Here's how we did it. And we can forward that to reaching even higher goals this year. The way we never quit, the way we always competed, the way we come together as a brotherhood. And that's something that we can take in from year in and year out. And we know what it looks like. We know what it takes to get it done. And that's what we're going to bring into this year and reach our full potential this year and get what we need to get done. A lot of a lot of our viewers on this show, they will ask me what I think about certain position groups and the construction of certain rooms going into the 2026 season. And you as one of the elder statesmen of that linebacker room, there's a lot of exciting guys like, you know, like Brandon Meizano is a guy that I have been harping on for a while. Tell me about the other linebackers in this room. Yeah, we have a young guy named Kenneth Goodwin. He's going to be very good for us. Jamal Anderson is going to be really good for us. Kate and Marshall. I mean, I say a young we have so many guys that nobody knows about and I can't wait till they get their opportunity to really shine and to make their name known for who they are on and off the field. Because when they get the opportunity, they're going to take it and run with it. Alexander Kilgore, SMU linebacker joining us. I got one last question for you, Alexander, and then I'll let you go and I appreciate the time, brother. But you guys are now dumb at spring ball. You've got these two months off until you guys have to report back for fall camp and then we're into the season. What's going to be personally for you and even as a team as a whole, what are the next couple of months going to look like as you guys prepare and prepare on your own before you guys regroup for fall camp? Putting our head down to work, competing in everything we do and making sure we reach our full potential in everything we need to do, whether that's catching a ball more, whether that's footwork, whether that's routes with receivers, anything that anybody needs to get done, we're going to get done, we're going to put our head down and we're going to work. And people are going to see September 6 that the defense and the offense and special teams You're going to be on fire and we can't wait to prove everybody wrong. You know, I do got one more question for you because you mentioned September 6 on Labor Day where you guys will take on Florida State to begin the season. A lot of times you begin the year with a team that's like maybe in the group of five or maybe in the FCS, you guys have to be ready for Florida State and in Tallahassee right off the bat. How exciting is that? It's exciting. Florida State's a great team. They've been a great team and we're excited for our competition to go and compete, especially in a way. They're crowds amazing. I mean, the Seminoles, so unique stadium, Mike Norville. He's a great coach. They have a great coach and we can't wait to go down there and compete. Alexander Kilgore, senior linebacker for SMU joining us here on Locked On SMU. Alexander cannot tell you how much I appreciate the time, brother. Good luck the rest of the offseason. We'll see you guys in the year, man. Yes, I appreciate you. All right, one more segment here on Locked On SMU. Hope all of you guys enjoyed the conversation with SMU Linebacker. Alexander Kilgore was a great team. It was a real fun one for me and I hope we can continue to do more of those as well as we go on and bring those to you guys here on the show. One last thing I wanted to touch on today, which by the way, make sure you tap in with the Every Day or Club as well. Get ad-free shows plus members only Discord access and more go to locked on SMU.supercast.com or click the link in the show notes to learn more about the Every Day or Club. So basketball has continued to build out its roster for the 2026-27 season and there are some people who could be underwhelmed by some of these additions. And I'd be kind of with you. Sure, you've got a guy who scored a lot of points in the American at Tulane in Rowan-Brumball. But other than him, it seemed like, okay, we get a role player here, role player here, role player here. When you look at David Terrell or Nick Cody or Jalen Stewart. Right. Good starters maybe? Good bench depth. But you don't have the guy that really says, damn, that's a home run. I'm excited about that one. Like for instance, if you've been following SMU for the last five years, there still is no bigger transfer edition on paper than Booby Miller. Right. So you're looking for that splash edition. And I understand. Here's where I'm at with SMU basketball right now and I replied to a YouTube listener comment by saying this. This team is going to look different in the way that they're not going to be top heavy. It was very clear last year that the five best players were in the starting lineup for SMU. You know, at the beginning of the year, you didn't have Jaden Tum's available because of injury. Jermaine O'Neill Jr. wasn't doing a whole lot for you at that point in time either. So you just didn't know. We didn't know. And the team remained top heavy the rest of the way. They did not get hardly any bench production the entire season. And then when B.J. Edwards went down with the injury and pretty much exacerbated that problem. Right. Didn't get much from Sam Walters. Didn't get much from Mitchell Holmes. Didn't get much from B.J. Davis Ray. Last year off the bench. So you were a pretty top heavy team. This year I think is going to be different based on what the roster looks like right now. I do not think they will be very top heavy. However, I don't think they will have the ceiling offensively that last year's team did. At least not right now. Again, recording this on April the 28th, things can change if you finally do hit a home run in the portal. But as it stands right now, that's not where we are. Now, there could be a positive and there could be a negative spin on this. The negative is, oh man, our best players, you know, may not be as good as the best players somewhere else. And that's the negative spin on it. And that could be true. For instance, you can look at this and say, well, it looks like SMU is not going to be scoring, you know, 85 points a night. Might be true. I would agree with you right now if you were to surmise that. But there also is the fact that, well, if we're not so top heavy, maybe there's not a noticeable drop-off between the first five and anybody else that Andy and Field decides to go to. And this is where we get back to a point that I've made a few times in the off season. I don't mind if they don't score 85 points a night. I don't mind if they're not a runaway top 20 offense in the country. If they get markedly better defensively, if they get markedly better defensively, I'm okay if they go from scoring 85 points a night to 79.6. I am more than okay with that. Because this team was so bad defensively that when crunch time arrives and they needed to stop, they hardly ever got to stop. And it put more pressure on them to keep scoring more points and more points and more points. And we know that in basketball, you're going to have stretches where you fail to score. That's just going to happen. That's just the world of basketball. So if they can keep themselves afloat and maybe even win games next year because of your defense, I am here for that trade-off. I'm telling you right now, I am here for that trade-off. If that's the deal with the devil that I have to make, I'm okay with doing that. Because if this team can get stops defensively, which I think they'll be able to do better than they did last year. If this team can get stops, I like their outlook going into next year. I like it. They'll figure out ways to score. There are too many dudes in America that can figure out ways to score. And SMU's got them. Rowan Brumbaugh can figure out ways to score. David Terrell can't really figure out ways to score. They have athletic dudes that they can run with. They'll get a center at some point. Jayden Toombs, I think, can be a dude. Watch out for Billy White. They got dudes that can score the basketball. But if they can get stops and they've gotten lengthier, they've gotten more versatile, they've gotten more physical on that side of the floor. If they can do that, that's where I like this team better. Because for some reason, this is just a basketball philosophy of mine. I really with teams that score a bunch of points and play no defense. To me, that puts more of a cap on your ceiling or more of a cap on your season, excuse me, than if you're a good offensive team that can also get stops. Give me the good offensive team that can get stops versus the high scoring, high flying offensive team that is anemic defensively. Give me the former rather than the latter on that one. That, again, might just be a personal thing. I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. But I like that better. So this is going to look different, at least with how we know the roster is constructed right now. This is going to look different. It might be a little uncomfortable to some. Hopefully I've convinced you to not be uncomfortable by it. But it's going to be different. It might be a little weird, especially right now, just growing pains. But I think it's going to be okay. Like all of you go to the barber shop and get your haircut, right? And during the process of the haircut, it looks pretty shabby, right? It looks shaky. You're like, what the hell is going on? But when you're all done, it looks good. And that's where I think SMU is right now in terms of Rocha construction, is that we got questions. I mean, be real with you. We got questions. But I think it's going to be okay. I think it's going to be all right when it comes down to it. And it might look a little different. But I think it's going to be pretty solid. All right, that'll do it for lockdown. SMU here on the lockdown podcast network. Appreciate you making us your first listen of the day as always. Make sure you check out the Every Day or Club as well to get every episode and members only. Discord, Access and more. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Make sure to be on the lookout for the ACC Squatch Show as well. Your boy will be hosting that once again as well. For your second listen of the day, make sure you check out the 24-7 National Lockdown Podcast Network YouTube channel or Lockdown College Basketball and Audio. We'll talk to you tomorrow, guys. Show notes: Grayson Singleton sits down with Alex Kilgore to unpack SMU’s offseason transitions, discuss the influx of transfers like Jayvon Thomas and Jarvis Lee, and spotlight rising defensive playmakers. On the basketball front, roster changes bring questions about top-heavy scoring but hint at improved defensive prowess and new potential for Andy Enfield’s squad. Don’t miss this fast-paced breakdown of SMU football’s outlook, basketball’s strategic shift, and the culture fueling the Mustangs’ pursuit of greatness. 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